Trenton Brooks, Nathan Wiles Sign With KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes

The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization announced their four foreign-player signings for the 2026 season, as relayed by Yoo Jee-ho of Yonhap News Agency. They have re-signed right-hander Raúl Alcantara, who pitched for the Heroes in 2025. They have also added first baseman Trenton Brooks, right-hander Nathan Wiles and Japanese right-hander Yuto Kanakubo. Alcantara will earn a $700K salary with $200K in incentives available. Wiles gets a $910K salary. Brooks gets $700K plus $150K in incentives. Kanakubo gets $100K with $30K in incentives available.

For many years, KBO teams have been limited to having three non-Korean players on their rosters. Starting in 2026, that number will jump to four, but one must be from another Asian country or Australia. In effect, KBO teams are still capped at three North American players, but the new rule has allowed the Heroes to add Kanakubo.

Brooks, 30, has had a lot of minor league success but hasn’t yet translated it to the big leagues. That’s a pretty common arc for a player heading overseas. He’s had brief looks in the majors with the Padres and Giants, getting 72 plate appearances in total with a dismal .136/.208/.212 line. But from 2021 to 2025, he took 1,994 plate appearances at the Triple-A level with a 13.9% walk rate and 16.6% strikeout rate while launching 66 home runs. His combined line of .279/.382/.472 translated to a wRC+ of 117.

Despite the consistently solid offense, Brooks was stuck in Quad-A status for a while. That’s perhaps due to his limited defensive abilities, as he’s mostly a first baseman with some experience in the outfield. He didn’t get to make his major league debut until he was almost 29 years old. The Padres passed him though waivers unclaimed in August.

If had he stayed in North America for the 2026 season, he likely would have been limited to minor league deals. By heading to South Korea, he will secure a guaranteed salary pretty close to the MLB minimum, which will be $780K next year. If he thrives with the Heroes, he could try to come back to the majors down the road or he could parlay his success into another deal in Asia.

Wiles, 27, just made his major league debut by tossing one inning for Atlanta back in April. He spent the majority of the season on optional assignment. He logged 112 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 3.04 earned run average, 22.2% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. He has generally had good control throughout his minor league career but without huge strikeout or ground ball totals.

Atlanta released him in November. Like Brooks, he was likely looking at minor league deals if he stayed in affiliated ball. Heading overseas gives him a chance to pitch on a bigger stage. Even if he had secured a major league deal, his salary would likely have been less than this deal with the Heroes.

Pitchers returning from pitching in Asia has become a popular route to take. Just this offseason, Cody Ponce, Drew Anderson, Anthony Kay, Foster Griffin and Ryan Weiss have signed multi-million-dollar deals after stints in Japan or South Korea. Wiles is still relatively young and could follow in those footsteps.

Alcantara pitched in the majors in 2016 and 2017. He’s been pitching for various Japanese and Korean clubs since then. He spent 2025 with the Heroes and gave them 121 innings with a 3.27 ERA. Kanakubo is a 26-year-old who has spent his career with the Yakult Swallows in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but that club has mostly kept him in the minors. He hasn’t topped 14 innings pitched at the top level in Japan in any of the past four seasons.

Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images